


Date Preparation 101

by abigaillecters



Category: Community
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-10
Updated: 2013-02-10
Packaged: 2017-11-28 20:28:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/678572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abigaillecters/pseuds/abigaillecters
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Annie and Abed are going on their first real date.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was my first A/A fanfiction.

Annie stood in front of the full length mirror in her bedroom and sighed.

“You guys! This is my first date with Abed and I have to look perfect! I can’t wear the same stuff I wear to class on a first date,” Annie whined as she pulled off the purple cardigan she was wearing and tossed it on her bed. Luckily, Shirley caught the cardigan before it slid off the bed and onto the floor. She handed the sweater to Britta who hung it up in the closet. Annie was adamant that all clothes not currently being worn should either be hanging in the closet or neatly folded in her dresser. She likes organization.

“Sweetie, this is Abed. You’ve known him for three years. You don’t have to wear anything out of the ordinary in order to impress him. He likes you just as you are,” said Shirley as she sat back down on Annie’s bed.

“She’s right, Annie. Troy and I talked about this at lunch the other day-,” Britta began to say but she was cut off by Annie.

“Britta! You talked to Troy about me and Abed?!” Normally, Annie would find this kind of thing cute but she was a bundle of nerves tonight.

“Troy is Abed’s best friend. Did you really think he wouldn’t tell Troy that the girl he’s been crushing on for three years finally asked him out?” Britta replied.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Annie said with a shrug of her shoulders and a slight smile.

Shirley was the voice of reason. She was the mother figure of the group for a reason. Not only because she actually had children but because she was warm and nurturing and okay, maybe she did have a slight obsession with using Jesus to make people feel guilty but that’s beside the point. Shirley was wise and always knew just what to do. “Back to your outfit. I say go with a nice dress and a cardigan. Simple and comfortable yet nice,” said Shirley softly. Shirley’s voice always got a little softer when she said the word ‘nice’.

“Oooh, I like that. Maybe wear the white dress with the red cardigan? I learned in my psychology class that men are more attracted to women in red because red makes men feel more amorous towards women,” Britta interjected. 

An hour later, Annie emerged from her room, dressed in a knee-length, spaghetti strapped, white eyelet lace dress and a red cardigan. It was summer but summer nights in Greendale, Colorado tended to get chilly. Plus, Annie almost always wore cardigans. It’s her thing.

————————————-Across the apartment—————————————————

Abed sat on his bed, his legs restless and his hands jittery. Truth be told, he didn’t have all that experience with real life women. Sure, he’d been married to and even had babies with Hilda. But Hilda was merely an NPC in a video game. It wasn’t meant to be. But Annie on the other hand, she was something else.

Abed had been alone for a good portion of his life and he had resigned himself to being alone. That all changed three years ago when he enrolled at Greendale Community College and found himself involved in a study group with six other lovable misfits. Three years had passed and Abed had friends, an apartment he shared with Troy and Annie, and a burgeoning career as a filmmaker. Well, that’s what he was working towards. And more importantly, he had been asked out by the girl he’d had a crush on ever since that first afternoon in Group Study Room F.

Annie was, in a lot of ways, the total opposite of Abed. She was Jewish and he was Muslim (but he had a strong attachment to Christmas thanks to his Polish mother). He was immature and she wasn’t. But even simply as friends, they seemed to bring out the best in each other. They understood each other.

It was for this reason that Abed accepted Annie’s invitation to dinner and a movie. That might seem like a risky choice for a first date (can’t really connect much while watching a movie) but Abed is all about movies and besides, they’ve known each other for three years. 

“What if she doesn’t like that I’m going to order chicken fingers at dinner? What if she thinks that’s immature?” said Abed nervously.

“Dude, she won’t. I believe during the western/star wars paintball game she told you, and I quote ‘I don’t think you’re immature, I think you’re great’ end quote. Plus, Annie knows you love chicken fingers so I don’t think she’ll have a problem.” replied Troy. Abed could always count on Troy to bring him back down to reality. That is, when Abed wanted/needed to be brought back down to reality. 

“How do I look?” asked Abed.

“Like Ryan Gosling in Crazy, Stupid, Love except you’re not wearing a suit and you’re not Ryan Gosling. Look, point is, you look good.” was Troy’s reply. 

Abed smiled and checked his outfit in the mirror one last time. Dark jeans, light blue button down, skinny tie, new converse sneakers and a gray cardigan. Annie loves cardigans.

Troy and Abed did their handshake one last time before Abed opened the improvised bedroom door.

“Good luck, man! Remember, you’re going on a date with Annie Edison!” said Troy enthusiastically.

“Cool. Cool cool cool” said Abed as he took a deep breath and walked into the living room where Annie was waiting anxiously.


	2. Introduction to Dating

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Annie and Abed actually go on their first real date.

Abed stood in the hallway, his hands resting limply on his sides. Troy gave him one last pat on the back as he left the apartment along with Shirley and Britta. Annie locked eyes with Abed but instantly looked down at the floor sheepishly. Jeez, you would think these two barely knew each other!

After a few moments of awkward silence, Abed cleared his throat and spoke. “You look really pretty. Kind of reminiscent of Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca. You’re very, um, elegant,” 

Annie was floored by this. Well, the reference to a movie character was expected but it was the fact that Abed had spoken first. He usually needed help reacting to situations but he had no trouble reacting to how her hair perfectly framed her round face and how the minimal makeup she had on made her skin glow. Upon hearing Abed’s compliment, a shy smile started to spread across her face. When Annie smiled, her whole face lit up. Abed loved it when Annie smiled. 

“Thank you. You don’t look so bad yourself,” replied Annie, a bit bashfully. 

“So, shall we go?” asked Abed, feeling impatient. He desperately wanted the slight awkwardness that had settled between them to leave; he usually felt really comfortable around Annie.

“I figured we should eat first and then see the movie. Or we could, um, see the movie first and then talk about it over dinner?” Annie had planned the date meticulously in her head but when it came to reality, she had no idea where to start.

“Movie first. I’m not really hungry right now.” replied Abed. Annie nodded her head in approval and the two headed out of the apartment and to the movie theatre, walking side by side. 

Annie had suggested they see Die Hard at the smaller movie theatre in town that was known for showing older classics instead of the newer blockbusters. Truth be told, Annie had never seen Die Hard but she knew Abed loved it. During the movie, Annie paid more attention to the look of excitement on Abed’s face as he concentrated on watching the movie than to the movie itself. 

Abed had seen Die Hard more times than he could remember. He knew that movie backwards and forwards. He knew the movie so well, that he could turn his attention away from the screen and onto Annie and he didn’t miss a beat of the action. He made sure to look at her only when he was sure her eyes were fixed on the screen. 

As Abed watched Annie watch the movie he noticed the way her eyes glimmered with excitement during the action scenes and he found himself a bit surprised by this. Annie Edison, the mature over-achiever, likes action films? He wasn’t complaining about this turn of events but he sure was perplexed by it. 

He could feel that her gaze was slowly shifting to his face from the screen but, surprisingly, he didn’t avert his gaze like he normally would have. The two locked eyes and it was like everything else but them disappeared. Abed could no longer hear the shooting noises coming from the theatre sound system. All Annie could see was Abed. Slowly, she reached over and laced her fingers in between his. Abed smiled and relaxed into his seat and both of them turned their attention back to the movie, still holding hands.

—————————————————————————————————————-

The cafe they were eating dinner at was relatively quiet. Perfect for a first date. And, it had chicken fingers on the menu, which Abed ordered of course. Annie ordered a simple pasta dish (but without red sauce. Red sauce doesn’t mix with a white dress). She had read in a magazine that one shouldn’t order anything too expensive or light or heavy on a first date so she figured pasta was the best option. Even though she lived in the same apartment as Abed and he had seen her eat, she still wanted to make a good impression. 

Abed was nervous as well. Normally, he would have devoured his food but tonight he merely picked at it. Annie ate a few forkfuls of pasta before putting her silverware down and pushing her plate away from her.

They began chatting casually about the movie. Abed was excited to hear Annie’s perspective on it. Usually, he tuned out other people’s opinions but Annie seemed to be the exception to most of Abed’s rules.

They talked and they laughed for what seemed like hours (it was really only half an hour). They looked like any other normal couple on a date. 

After awhile, they had said pretty much all the could say about the movie. The slightly awkward silence had settled in between them once again.

“So, um, this was really nice. I had a really good time,” said Annie as the waitress cleared away their plates, most of the food still on them. 

“I had fun too. I’m glad you liked Die Hard. We would have run into a few issues if you didn’t,” said Abed, smiling. Annie giggled. Abed loved Annie’s laugh. It was soft, just like Annie. 

“Hey, just because I’m not a cinephile like you doesn’t mean I don’t have good taste in movies,” Annie teased. 

“Touche,” replied Abed. 

“We should probably get going,” he continued.

“Oh, ok. Sounds like a plan,”

Abed paid the bill. He had seen enough romantic comedies to know that a gentleman always paid for dinner and the two left the restaurant, walking side by side. After some walking and light conversation they arrived back at the apartment. It was dark and quiet. Troy had gone out for the evening, presumably to give Abed and Annie some peace. 

“We should do this again,” said Abed, practically out of the blue.

“Really?”

“Yeah, I had fun. You’re cooler than I thought you were. And I already thought you were really cool, not Inspector Spacetime cool, but cool,” Abed looked at the ground as he complimented Annie. He was getting better at the whole eye-contact thing but he wasn’t quite 100% alright with it.

“Wow, thank you. That really means a lot. I’d love to do this again sometime, too,” replied Annie, beaming. 

Annie realized that this was her opportunity to finally kiss Abed. Well, they had kissed before, but that was in character. This would be their first *real* kiss. She stepped closer towards him, softly saying his name. Reacting to the situation, Abed said Annie’s name. Except he wasn’t so quiet about it but oh well, that’s Abed for you. 

Annie placed her hand on Abed’s cheek and to her delight, he leaned into her. He then took her hand off of his cheek and it was his turn to make a move. He took a strand of her hair and gently tucked it behind her ear, his cheeks flushing with excitement and nerves. 

“Oh, Annie.”

“Abed, I-,” and before she could say anything else, Abed’s lips were pressing down on hers, hard yet gentle. He let his hands rest on her waist and she wrapped her arms around his neck.

Who knows how long they were kissing for, but neither one of them broke the kiss. They pulled apart at the same time, both of their faces red and smiling.

“Cool. cool cool cool,” was the first thing out of Abed’s mouth.

Annie gave him a kiss on the cheek before retiring to her bedroom. 

“Cool,” said Annie, glancing back at Abed one last time before entering her bedroom and falling asleep with a smile on her face.


End file.
